Overworked Soles
by leiahlaloa
Summary: Bella's silly thoughts... poor Edward.


**A/N: Ok, so I come up with some of the most ridiculous scenarios and notice some of the most menial things about Twilight. This particular outtake deals with one I just noticed…**

**I would like to point out that I have not been on the Lex long enough to have read every Q and A with Steph. So this particular topic may have been addressed… may not. laughs I don't know if it even warrants this much attention. **

**Also, I would like to apologize if this rambles and is longer… I kinda just let my fingers roam around, following my brain. **

**And just so that you all know, I don't own any of the characters in this piece of writing. I'm just borrowing from Ms. Meyer and hoping I don't botch them up too bad along the way. **

While I was lying in the sun in my backyard one Saturday afternoon, I suddenly had a thought. A pretty absurd thought, actually. What kind of shoes does Edward wear? I laughed out loud at the thought.

"Bella! What are you laughing at?" Edward's voice came from the trees. He was watching me. He was always watching me. Actually, he just knew that I liked to lie in the sun, so he had insisted that I indulge myself. He wouldn't come out and enjoy the sun with me though. He was afraid that the neighbors might see his sparkling skin and suspect something.

"Oh nothing," I said, trying to cover my laughter at my illogical thinking. I was surprised when he had come to the edge of the woods where I could just make his form out. Usually he didn't come this close to the tree line.

"Tell me." His voice prodded. I got up and came over to where he was, under the protection of the tree cover.

"It's just silliness. Do you have to know everything that I laugh about?" I looked up into his face. His eyes, golden, stared into mine with intensity. I hadn't completely gotten immune to his intoxicating stare, but I had gotten better at it.

"Of course. If it's something I can do that will repeat your laughter, I have to know. It's exhilarating for me to hear." His gaze remained steady, stunning me.

"I was thinking about you." I said, in complete honesty.

"What about me would make you laugh so easily?" his brow furrowed in a perplexed look.

"I don't know if I want to tell you." I shook my head. His hands went to my waist and pulled me even closer to him, tilting my face towards his. The cold of his touch sent waves of heat through my body. Ironic.

"Please?" his lips were centimeters from mine. His sweet scent filled my head and I forgot to breathe.

"Bella." His voice was much less than a whisper, but it was all it took for me to gasp for air. I felt his body tense. He closed his eyes and there was a hint of a crease in his brow. But he didn't let go of me. I had a feeling there was a battle raging behind those violet eyelids, so I kept still.

"Thank you." He breathed and finally opened his eyes. I didn't have to ask him what he was thanking me for. I knew my personal aroma was his downfall. And that was putting it lightly, "You still haven't told me."

"Your shoes." I admitted, sheepishly.

"My shoes?" his bewildered look made his brow crease again. I smiled and hid my face in his chest.

"I never notice what kind of shoes you're wearing. It was such a bizarre thought, I laughed." I sighed and closed my eyes, breathing in his scent again. He laughed. I expected it. But like always, I never expected the feeling it would generate in me. The warmth that spread like wildfire through me.

"Well, would you like to examine my footwear?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. It may not be the mystery that I'm imagining it to be."

I looked down anyways. He was wearing tennis shoes. Granted, they were the really nice looking ones… and they were brown. I shook my head in disbelief.

"I can't really run in anything else. Seriously, we go through shoes a lot faster than humans do. We are hard on them."

"So, are they all brown tennis shoes?" I asked trying to control my laughter.

"Come on. I'll take you to the house and show you that I don't wear just one type of shoes all the time." Edward pulled me a few feet through the woods, "I'll bring you back before Charlie comes home."

"Ok," I sighed. He picked me up and threw me on his back. I barely closed my eyes before he started running. I was surprised when he ran all the way through the house and up to his room. He let me down and led me to his walk-in closet. I was hit with the scent of his intoxicating smell, augmented by all his clothing surrounding me. Our olfactory senses sometimes got us both into trouble. I didn't have time to ponder that thought though.

"I thought I had more shoes than this." He frowned when he stopped in front of a shelf. There were four pairs sitting on the shelf that he was looking at. Two were almost

identical to the ones he was wearing, one was a pair of brown leather loafers and the last was a pair of black dress shoes. One of the pairs of brown tennis shoes looked worn out.

"You weren't kidding," I picked up one of the shoes and examined the overworked sole.

"It looks like I'll have to make a trip somewhere to go shopping." Edward's look was not happy.

"Can you not just order shoes off the internet?" I asked.

"I'm picky. You wouldn't think it would matter, since I can't get blisters or anything, but I am. It's a hang up." He shrugged.

"Did I hear shopping?" Alice's voice came from outside the closet. Edward groaned.

"This is what I had hoped to avoid." He led me out of the closet.

"A shopping trip with your dear sister?" Alice looked innocently up at Edward.

"Exactly," he laughed.

"Bella, would you like to go shopping with us tomorrow?" Alice asked.

"Uhm…."

"Bella, before you answer that, make sure you know that Alice is crazy when she shops. She shops for hours… and never stops. I may not be able to get out of it, but you have a chance to save yourself." Edward voice was teasing and dramatic, but his eyes were serious. Alice shoved him out of the way with one fluid motion and took my hand.

"Come on Bella, please?" Alice pouted. I looked over at Edward, who was leaning against his wall. I could not resist spending a whole day with him.

"Of course I'll go." I smiled at Alice.

"YAY!" she jumped up and down… somehow looking even more like a ballet dancer than usual.

"Do you think your dad will be ok with that?" she asked.

"I'm sure." I waved the question off, "He worships the ground you walk on. If you're going, then he'll be more than happy to release me."

"Come on, Bella. I'd better get you back to the house. Charlie didn't know you left." Edward beckoned.

"We'll pick you up at nine in the morning. The weather looks rainy." Alice said before Edward could spirit me off out of the house and into the forest.

"This is so much fun." Alice chirped. I grinned at her and then looked at Edward's face. A grimace colored his expression.

"Edward, it's shopping. We are not going to war." I snickered and squeezed his hand.

"Alice makes everything ten times more complicated though. She always wants to go to every store and look around. Even if she doesn't buy anything," Edward's voice was irritated. Alice wasn't fazed though, and went into the first store that caught her eye.

Hours and several shopping bags later, we finally arrived at the store that Edward usually shoe shopped at. It was a place where you didn't pull out a box and try the shoes on. They were brought to you.

I was utterly fascinated with the clerk's treatment of us, as soon as we stepped through the door. At first, shock registered on the man's face. He looked like he was going to run away screaming. It was pure instinct. I could tell. He had every right to look that way.

I suddenly wondered why I hadn't felt that fear at all when I first laid eyes on the Cullens. As usual, I couldn't hang on to the thought. Edward's chuckle broke through, as he took in the man's expression. Maybe the clerk scared a little easier that most. Then the man was approaching us, as if nothing had happened.

"Mr. Cullen, so wonderful to see you here… and you've brought guests. Please, feel free to sit down and we'll bring you what we have in your taste." He motioned for two other clerks, women, to come over, "Please assist Mr. Cullen's guests in anything they might need." The women took a good look at us and suddenly we weren't alone. Edward, Alice and I were seated at individual tables and shoes were being brought pair by pair for us to look over and try on.

Alice tried her best not to look shocked at the treatment we were receiving.

"Alice, do you not come shoe shopping with Edward?" I asked when we were left alone for a moment.

"No. I will never let him come alone again, though. They treat us like royalty. I love it." Alice beamed, "Are you hungry? I'm sure we could probably get dinner brought in for you."

"Alice," Edward laughed more than warned from my other side.

"What? She should get used to the pampering if she's going to hang around with us. Geez… you spoil her more than anyone else." Alice stuck her tongue out at Edward in a completely unladylike manner. I snickered.

"I'm fine." I shook my head.

I refused most of the shoes the saleswoman offered and only allowed myself to try on flats. They were much more reasonable.

Somewhere between ballet shoes and platform sandals, I noticed that Edward was pacing up and down the store. His feet were encased in brown tennis shoes… new ones instead of the ones he'd had on. His face was comical as he shifted his feet around in them. Indecision played on his face. What a ham.

"Isn't he hilarious?" Alice was watching me, "He can wear almost anything. As long as there's no print on it and jeans are involved. But his shoes? No way. He has to come in here, let them spoil him rotten, walk around like a model, pretending to consider what he's going to buy… then he buys almost the same exact thing every time." She shook her head at him and sighed. Edward glanced up at us and rolled his eyes. He could either hear our conversation or her thoughts.

"Have you found anything you like?" Alice asked me.

"Not really. I'm not into all these hip funky shoes. Give me a pair of Doc Martens or something like that. Comfortable. No heals. No spikes. No dazzle. They work." I shrugged.

"I'll remember that." Alice did look like she was filing it away. She glanced back over at Edward, "Look at them, fawning all over him." The women clerks were watching Edward as he did a few spins and walked up and down the length of the store again. "You should go claim your territory."

"Oh yeah. I'm sure that would help things." I rolled my eyes, but suddenly felt a pang of jealousy when one of the women was bold enough to reach out and imaginarily smooth Edward's collar. I saw his guarded expression.

"Oh no, she didn't." Alice growled. I laughed at her response and got up.

"Edward?" I spoke as soon as I was close enough for normal people could hear. He glanced my way and smiled widely. He looked like he needed rescued.

"Bella," he reached around the women who were almost blocking me from him and grabbed my hand, "What do you think?" he looked down at the shoes on his feet. I followed his gaze and shook my head.

"You have how many pairs of brown shoes? Why don't you mix it up?" I asked. His look was pure disbelief and he pulled me closer to him, to the disdain of the clerks.

"But I like brown shoes. They don't show stains or mud as easily." He was seriously giving these women a show. He wrapped his arms around me protectively and looked down into my eyes. I instinctively placed my arms around his waist and tried not to daze out, hoping that he would at least have mercy in that department.

"You know I don't care what you put on your feet, as long as you aren't complaining about it later on." I shook my head.

"You are no help whatsoever." He smiled. It was amusing, letting him use me as a ploy to get rid of the women. The clerks had drifted off somewhere in the middle of our exchange and were trying to look busy at the back of the store. I laughed and walked back towards Alice.

"Is Edward ready to go?" Alice asked as I approached.

"Who knows? How many pairs of brown shoes can he try on?" I shrugged.

"Two." Edward's voice came from behind us, "And I'm buying them both."

Alice nodded towards a pile of boxes beside her. "I'm buying eight."

"That sounds reasonable," Edward shrugged and looked at me. "Did you find anything?"

"Nope." I shook my head. I was still baffled that Alice was buying eight pairs of shoes.

"What about those cute pink ballet shoes?" Alice pouted.

"They pinched my feet." I shrugged. Edward nodded and turned to the male clerk to settle up. I got back into my own shoes and was ready to go by the time Alice and Edward were.

"So you bought two more pairs of _brown_ shoes, huh?" I laughed.

"Bella, I still have the male gene within me. Men like familiarity and comfort. I'm much the same. Brown tennis shoes are both familiar and comfortable to me. I don't know why you're suddenly so obsessed with my shoes anyways." He was frustrated. I don't know if I'd ever seen him frustrated with me. It was very attractive for some reason.

"Ok." I smiled up into his face and let Alice grab my hand, swinging her shoe bags between us.

"Now wait a minute. You cannot do that to me." Edward's voice signaled he was right behind us.

"What did _I_ do?" I looked over at Alice and she stifled a laugh.

"You're patronizing me! Isabella Marie Swan!" I didn't look back as Alice and I approached the Volvo.

"What's wrong Edward? Is Bella better at being condescending than you are? Oh no! We've finally found a flaw." Alice acted like she was fainting and landed carefully onto the car's hood, allowing her bags to fall to her side. People were staring.

"Alice, just get in the car." Edward sighed and hit the unlock button on his keychain. Alice and I immediately got in the back together and started oohing and ahhing over the spoils of the shopping trip.

Apparently, Edward's ego wasn't bruised enough to forget that I still hadn't eaten. And if he had, my stomach did a pretty good job of making sure the whole car knew I hadn't. He pulled into a low key restaurant on the outskirts of Seattle and looked back at us.

"Are you hungry?" he asked me. I saw he was trying to make amends. I grinned at him and leaned carefully to kiss his cheek.

"Yes. Please, let's go in." I moved to get out of the car and had just about untangled myself from the seatbelt when my foot caught on the door. I cringed as I waited to fall face first into the merciless pavement. I don't know how it happened (oh wait… yes I do), but Edward's arm was around me in a split second, keeping me from falling.

"What would you do without me?" he grinned.

"I'd probably be a little more bumped and bruised, but at least I wouldn't have an ego the size of Montana following me around." I tapped his nose with my index finger and winked. "Or I'd be dead. Who knows?"

"Oh Bella, Bella, Bella." He shook his head at me, "What would _I_ do without _you_?"

"Can we discuss that while I'm eating?" My stomach rumbled again, as if it on cue.

"I suppose," Edward laughed and let Alice lead us into the restaurant.

**A/N-What do you think? **


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